Tyler, Texas – After a pair of weather postponements, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team opened the 2017 season with a pair of games at the Clements Fluids Classic in Tyler on Saturday. UMHB split those games, topping Centenary College before falling to U.T. Tyler in a pair of one-run games to go 1-1 on opening day.
The Cru opened the day with a 1-0 victory over Centenary College. The game was a scoreless pitcher's duel until UMHB manufactured a run in the top of the eighth inning. Dakota Best led off with a single, but was out on Landon Dieterich's fielder's choice. Austin Blanford followed with a single to send Dieterich to third base. Robbie Gillen dropped down a squeeze bunt to score Dieterich with the only run the Cru pitching staff would need. Tyler Nelson set the Gentlemen down in order in the bottom of the eighth and Aaron Barteau came on to strike out two batters with a runner on in bottom of the ninth to nail down the win for UMHB. Nathan Kent (1-0) scattered six hits and struck out four in seven innings of work to earn the win for the Cru and Barteau earned his first save of the year. Five different players had hits for UMHB. Jackie Allen scattered five hits and struck out nine, but took the loss for Centenary to drop to 0-2 on the year. The Gentlemen are 7-2 as a team on the season following the loss.
The Cru closed out the day with a 6-5 loss to tournament host U.T. Tyler. UMHB grabbed a 2-0 lead on Mason Schuh's RBI double and Mitch Patterson's RBI single in the top of the first inning. The Patriots put three on the board in the bottom of the second and added two more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-2 lead. The Cru got a run back on Mark Frankhouser's RBI groundout in the top of the fifth and UMHB tied the game on Dieterich's two-run single in the top of the seventh. The Cru had a chance to take the lead, but had a runner thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a fly ball to end the inning. U.T. Tyler scored what proved to be the game winner on Josh Burns' RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, as Riley Davis threw out a runner at third base on the same play that scored the run. UMHB put runners on base in the eighth and ninth inning, but Hunter Palmer struck out five of the eight batters he faced to close it out for his second save of the year. Evan Kissinger earned the win for U.T. Tyler to move to 1-0 on the year. Evan Samoff scattered six hits over four innings and struck out five, but took the loss for UMHB to drop to 0-1 on the year. Schuh, Patterson and Best had two hits apiece to lead the Cru's 11-hit attack in the game. But UMHB committed two errors, allowed two passed balls, threw four wild pitches and were called for two balks in the contest. The Patriots are now 4-1 on the season following the victory.
The Cru will close out the tournament with a 12:00 PM single game against defending national champion Trinity University on Sunday. UMHB will then travel to Tennessee to play three games in the Rhodes College Tournament next weekend.